WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/93 
2 December 2009 
 (09-6173) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   English 
 
  
AUSTRIA 
 
Statement by HE Dr Reinhold Mitterlehner
 
Federal Minister of Economy, Family and Youth  
   First of all, I want to express my thanks to the organizers, in particular to Pascal Lamy, to 
Switzerland as the WTO host country and to Federa l Councillor Doris Leuthard as well as to the 
Chair, Minister Andrés Velasco. 
  In my view, it is high time to send a strong si gnal from the WTO membership to maintain our 
openness and our willingness to fight against prot ectionism by supporting the multilateral trading 
system.  This Conference should give fresh impetu s to our joint work and should demonstrate the 
positive contribution of WTO to a more su stainable growth of the global economy. 
 
 Reflecting the past 14 years we have seen big achievements of WTO and thus we should 
renew our commitment to bring the Doha Round to a successful conclusion.  During the recent 
economic crisis, WTO has shown leadership in figh ting against protectionism by its monitoring of 
trade-related measures.  So it has contributed to restraining protectionism in a timely and effective 
manner. 
  For a small, open economy such as Austria's, open markets are vital for its economic performance.  During recent years total exports of goo ds and services have been rising, reaching a rate 
of 58.3 per cent of GDP before the crisis.  Trade liberalization has been a decisive factor in this 
development.  Apart from the progress resulting from the Uruguay Round, Austria as an EU Member 
has profited from trade liberalization by the cr eation of the EU internal market and by 
EU enlargement.  Due to Austria's strong export or ientation, it was unavoidable that the crisis had a 
strong negative impact on the export sector, especially in the second half of 2008 and the first half of 
2009.  However, since the third quarter of 2009,  signs of a new upward trend have emerged. 
 
 Austria has undertaken a range of policy meas ures to contain the problems arising from the 
financial sector and to stimulate the economy , in particular by spurring domestic demand 
(e.g. car-scrapping scheme, personal income tax cuts  and support for climate -friendly renovation) and 
by facilitating access to export finance.  It has also invested in infrastructure and promoted employment to alleviate the crisis.  These measures have already shown first results. 
 
 Since GDP growth in many countries will most  likely not be strong enough to improve the 
situation in the labour market in the short term  and pressure for budget cons olidation will mount, the 
danger of a global rise in trade restrictive measure s still persists.  The WTO must continue to be 
vigilant so that calls for restrictive measures do not lead to an increase in protectionism.  It should also 
closely watch the global situation so that, once economic recovery has taken hold, potentially 
protectionist measures taken in response to the crisis are rolled back in order to avoid a systemic trend 
towards more restricted trade inhibiting global economic growth. WT/MIN(09)/ST/93 
Page 2  
 
   
 Among the trade measures with restrictive character, non-tariff-measures hit small and medium-sized enterprises particularly hard.  SMEs  represent the dominant form of business in Austria 
and employ a large part of the workforce.  Theref ore the reduction of non-tariff barriers is an area of 
priority interest for Austria. 
 
 A more detailed monitoring of specific tr ade measures under the WTO agreements (for 
instance by increased transparency and enhanced use of electronic means), which was started in early 
2009, has our full support.  There is also room to make WTO committees more efficient.  
 We also see the need for furt her work on the issue of the growing number of Regional Trade 
Agreements in the WTO context.  We welcome that some steps have already been taken to increase 
transparency (e.g. the provisional Tr ansparency Mechanism), but more needs to be done, in particular:  
The notification record should be further improved;  more attention should be given to the systemic 
implications of Regional Trade Agreements and In itiatives for the multilateral trading system in view 
of encouraging a coherent development. 
  Austria is convinced that the most important trade policy instrument for promoting growth on a global scale is the rapid conclusion of an ambiti ous, balanced and comprehensive Doha Round.  In 
times of increasingly globalized markets transparen t, predictable global rules under the WTO system 
and a further reduction of obstacles to trade in good s and services are of highest value.  As an EU 
Member, Austria fully supports the EU objectives in the Doha Round. 
  The positive impetus of a rapid conclusion of the Doha Round seems all the more urgent in 
view of the recent economic crisis.  It would resu lt in a major boost to the world economy (moderate 
estimates indicate an amount of $150 billion annua lly, which need not be financed by already 
overstrained fiscal resources).  Moreover, by means of new WTO tariff bindings the danger of 
possible new protective tariff measures (e.g. applied ta riffs raised to bound leve l) would be reduced.  
In order to conclude the Doha Round, there is an urgent need to show political support by instructing 
negotiators to resolve the outstanding elements of  a final deal.  We hope that more progress can be 
made in the course of the present year on the basis of the work already done and that the objective of 
concluding the Doha Round in 2010 can be achieved.  
 
 To meet the global challenges, trade policy h as to be seen in a wider context.  Many aspects 
of government policy, international agreements an d business decisions have trade implications.  The 
recent discussions on the trade aspects of the food crisis, on climate change and on the shortage of 
trade finance are cases in point.  
 
 In future, WTO must continue to be ready to tackle new issues in line with its principal role, 
in particular by:  strengthening trade in increasingl y integrated markets in line with business needs, 
taking into account all aspects of sustainable develo pment (an issue which is of high importance for 
Austria) and enhanced coherence with other releva nt international organizations.  For instance, WTO 
can help to address the pressing needs with referen ce to climate change by liberalising trade in 
environmental goods and services. 
  Trade liberalization is not an end in itself:  it has to contribute to economic growth and welfare on a global scale as well as to improving living conditions in all countries.  The package that is on the DDA negotiating table now has a strong de velopment dimension.  We also believe that 
assisting developing countries, in particular least de veloped countries, to benefit from international 
trade is of major importance.  Many develo ping countries have especially suffered from the 
consequences of the economic crisis , in particular by the downturn in export demand and the shortage 
of finance.  In this situation technical assistance has become even more important to prepare them for 
economic recovery.  WT/MIN(09)/ST/93 
 Page 3 
 
 
   
 An important element for the success of WTO is the public perception of its work and its objectives.  Therefore we welcome the increased offer of user-friendly information on the WTO 
website and other WTO initiatives (e.g. the annua l WTO Forum) to reach out to the public. 
 
 Despite some criticism, the WTO has been in fact a good example of global international 
cooperation with tangible, enforceable results and conc rete economic benefits.  Particularly in view of 
the present efforts to find ways out of the crisis and to try to get the economy back on track, the rapid conclusion of the Doha Round would provide an ur gently-needed, overdue stimulus.  Now is the 
moment to act in this direction. 
 
__________